24 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



discover any plastic distinctions sufficient to justify specific rank 

 (though I consider the difference in shape of the areolet and 

 brachial cell to be constant), and thinks the "distribution of 

 red- brown colour varies greatly, apparently according to in- 

 dividual developement"; to me this variation appears very 

 slight, and that of the hind tibial colour even less so. The 

 synonymy of the whole genus is repeated in the same critic's 

 " Zweihundert alte Hymenopteren " (Berl. Ent. Zeit. 1912, 

 p. 63), where 0. violator, Thunb., alone is allowed to stand, 

 though far antedated by O. objurgator,Fsih., as I pointed out in 

 1909. 



Table of Species. 

 (8). 1. Wings, basal abdominal segment and part of thorax black. 

 (3). 2. Areolet externally subrectangular above ; bra- 

 chial cell apically less explanate ; anus pale ; 



flagellar pale band usually six-jointed . 1. violator, Thunb. 

 (2). 3, Areolet externally rounded above; brachial 



cell apically strongly explanate ; anus black ; 



flagellar pale band usually four- jointed. 

 (5). 4. Propleurae and temples utterly glabrous ; hind 



tibiae white only to their centre . . 2. objurgator, Fab. 

 (4). 5. Propleurae striate and temples pilose ; central 



hind tibial flavous band extending far beyond centre. 

 (7). 6. Hind tibial black band longer than calcaria : 



length 27 mm 3. gigas, Kriech. 



(6). 7. Hind tibial black band not longer; length 



21 mm 4. ruficeps, Cam. 



(1). 8. Wings brown, basal abdominal segment and 



nearly whole thorax red. 

 (10). 9. Wings basally paler ; flagellum and hind legs 



red and not pale banded . . 5. pulcherriimis, Kirby. 

 (9). 10. Wings unicolorous; flagellum and hind legs 



black, pale banded . . . .8. flavipes, Brulle. 



1. OSPRHYNCHOTUS VIOLATOR, Thunb. 



Ichneumon violator, Thunb. Mem. Acad. Sc. Petersb. ix. 1824, 

 p. 303 ; cf. Koman, Zool. Bidr. Uppsala, i. 1912, p. 288. 

 Osprhijnchotus capensis. Spin. Mag. Zool. xi. 1841, p. 75, 

 male, female. Distantella trinotata, Sauss. Nat. Trans- 

 vaal, 1892, p. 230, female. 

 Maximilien Spinola beautifully figures {loc. cit. pi. Ixxv.) 

 both sexes with details of the head and of the male abdomen, 

 which latter is not apically pale ; he regarded the genus as a 

 " Sous-famille des Ophionides " and derived his generic name 

 from the rostriform mouth ; only three examples of both sexes 

 were known to him, from the Cape of Good Hope. I have 

 examined what Mr. W. L. Distant assures me is the type 

 specimen of Saussure's elaborately described genus Distantella, 

 and find it to be entirely synonymous with O. capensis, Spin. 



